Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio Presents Lisa Marie Simmons

Lisa is a multi-disciplinary storyteller. She is a singer/songwriter (Ropeadope Records), essayist (Huffington Post, Kweli Journal, Family Stories Project, Chicken Soup for the Soul, AfroElle), and published poet currently based in Italy. The American debut of NoteSpeak was at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival in Boulder Co. in September 2017. She was invited to be a speaker and performer at the 70th Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado in April 2018. In November 2019, she presented NoteSpeak (Amore e Tragedie in Musica) in Italy, Austria, and Prague. In January 2020, she presented NoteSpeak in India on the Jaipur Music Stage. Ropeadope Records released her poetic/musical album NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica) in March 2020, which received a four-star review from the iconic Downbeat magazine. In October 2021, she flew to Florida to search for her birth father - Angela Tucker, and her Emmy Award-winning husband, Bryan Tucker, shot a documentary about the search Lisa & Isell: A story about adoption and the Ghost Kingdom, which premiered on June 22, 2022. Angela and Lisa co-wrote an essay advocating for the rights of Black fathers for the Harvard Law Bill of Health digital symposium in May 2022. Her jazz standards album Lisa Meets Gianni with the legendary Gianni Cazzola was released on June 10, 2022, on Ropeadope Records. She was invited to participate in the Biennale in Venice in October 2022 for artist Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat. Her poem “Last Supper” was shortlisted for a Creators of Justice Literary Award in November 2022. Her new album NoteSpeak (Dodici), will be released by Ropeadope Records in February 2023. She is currently at work on a fictional memoir.